The Banking Stepchild: Money Service Businesses

Many of the major banks have adopted a categorical approach to risk and declined to do business with money service businesses (“MSBs”). A categorical approach may seem justified based on risk tolerance but it represents a simplistic answer to an otherwise complex issue. To put it another way, “it represents lazy compliance thinking”  according to…

Read More

The unbanking of America

It is often assumed that traditional banks are cheaper, more transparent and better for people than money service businesses – payday lenders, check cashers and so on. “If we could just educate the “unbanked” and “underbanked” and usher them into the modern financial system with a bank account, their fortunes would surely improve” A university of Pennsylvania…

Read More